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What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax: An Introduction to the UK Tax System

In his new book, What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax, James Hannam takes look at the UK tax system and provides non-specialist readers with an easy-to-understand explanation of tax and tax policy to show them just how much they pay, how the money is collected and how tax affects ordinary people every day.

"Since we all hate paying taxes, the government has perfected the art of ensuring that we rarely have to hand over the money ourselves. Most taxes are paid by businesses on our behalf."

With no accounting or legal knowledge required, it contains practical case studies to illustrate how tax functions in the real world, for example: how the VAT on a plumber's bill all adds up; why fraudsters made a movie to throw HMRC off their scent; how a wealthy couple can pay minimal tax on a six-figure income; and the way tracing the money you paid for your iPad sheds light why the EU is demanding Apple pay billions extra in tax.

Written in a conversational style, What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax gives readers a real-world look at how tax works. In it they will:

Learn about the many ways that the tax system separates us from our money

Discover how Brexit could change the way we pay taxes

Understand how changing tax policy affects people's everyday lives

See through the rhetoric from politicians and the media surrounding tax controversies

The system's underlying logic is illustrated through three 'golden rules' that explain many of the UK tax regime's oddities:

Lots of small taxes together add up to make big tax bills – “The point of all these taxes is to spread the pain so we notice it less.”

No matter what name is on the bill, all taxes are ultimately suffered by human beings – taxes levied on manufacturers are passed on to the consumer through a higher price for the product

Taxes are kept as invisible as possible – “Since we all hate paying taxes, the government has perfected the art of ensuring that we rarely have to hand over the money ourselves. Most taxes are paid by businesses on our behalf.”

With tax, there are no easy answers. No one enjoys paying them, but without them, the government would shut down.

Whether readers are self-employed, have a general interest in the way the UK tax system works, are a finance or tax professional, or students wanting to understand more about taxation in a break from traditionally dry text books, What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax gives them the background and foundational knowledge they need to be a well-informed taxpayer.

What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax will be published on 23rd March 2017 and will be available wherever books and ebooks are sold.